Why we love reddit

Back in early 2012 when one of our founders, Ben Hardwick (/u/TheLake), posted the photo of Omari two days after being hit in the face with a machete defending the orphanage his mother ran, we never could have anticipated what would happen next. Asking for only $2,000 to build a new stone wall to improve the security of the orphanage, reddit responded by donating roughly $65,000 in 24 hours, and a total of nearly $83,000 in just a few short weeks. News outlets like the Associated Press, the Huffington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and many others shared Omari's story as well. The photo of Omari was actually imgur's #1 photo of 2012 - surpassing Grumpty Cat and President Barack Obama!